Pregnant Smokers’ Experiences and Opinions of Techniques Aimed to Address Barriers and Facilitators to Smoking Cessation: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Pregnant women experience certain barriers and facilitators (B&Fs) when trying to quit smoking. This study aimed to elicit women’s views on techniques that could help overcome or enhance these. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 pregnant women who had experience of smoking during pregnancy. Participants were prompted to discuss experiences of B&Fs and give suggestions of techniques that could address these appropriately. A thematic analysis was conducted using the one sheet of paper method. Four themes relating to suggested techniques were identified: accessing professional help, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), distraction, and social interactions. Experiences of accessing professional help were generally positive, especially if there was a good rapport with, and easy access to a practitioner. Most women were aware of NRT, those who had used it reported both negative and positive experiences. Praise and encouragement from others towards cessation attempts appeared motivating; peer support groups were deemed useful. Women reported experiencing B&Fs which fell under four themes: influence of others, internal motivation, cues to smoke, and health. Overall, accessing professional support generated positive changes in smoking habits. Establishing ways of how to encourage more women to seek help and raising awareness of different types of support available would seem beneficial.

Accessing specialist support to stop smoking in pregnancy: A qualitative study exploring engagement with UK‐based stop smoking services

“…There is, however, only limited research on the uptake of services by pregnant women (Naughton et al., 2020), with much of the current literature focussed on the barriers to, and facilitators of, pregnancy smoking cessation (e.g. Campbell et al., 2018; Fergie, Campbell, et al., 2019; Fergie, Coleman, Ussher, Cooper, & Campbell, 2019; Flemming et al., 2016; Naughton et al., 2018).…”

Atenção à saúde da gestante: preditores sociodemográficos e obstétricos

“…Outro fator determinante quanto à estratificação do risco gestacional é a multiparidade, uma vez que os resultados mostraram maior número de filhos em mulheres pertencentes aos grupos intermediário e alto risco, corroborando com a pesquisa realizada em Aracajú, SE, que identificou que um terço das gestantes pertencentes ao grupo de alto risco tem três ou mais filhos 16 . tornando-se um importante problema de saúde pública 11,15,17,18 .…”

Experts’ Views on Behaviour Change Techniques for Smoking Cessation in Pregnancy: A Qualitative Study

“…Statistics show that approximately 50% of women who smoke quit during their pregnancy [ 5 ]. Previous research has concluded that it is important to identify why certain women fail to engage with smoking cessation services whilst pregnant [ 37 ]. This study found that some women may not be ready to quit smoking as other factors may be hindering them such as issues surrounding mental well-being [ 23 , 38 ].…”